Re: Tennessee Research

Thank you very much, John. That is a very informative link.

I have been a big fan of George Dickel No. 12 for about 20 years. However, all the excellent bourbons I've been tasting for the past 10 weeks or so are pushing it hard. I need to re-sample it to see where it fits in.

Re: Tennessee Research

Thanks John. It's good to have an active Tennessee representative on board. Your contribution now makes up about 85% of what little I know about Tennessee whiskey beyond GD and JD. I'm anxious to learn more.

Here's a small list of distilleries that were active in the Tullahoma area just before Prohibition (1910 in Tennessee)...

Re: Tennessee Research

Re: Tennessee Research

One thing I found interesting is the potential connection between Tolley & Eaton ("In 1877....Tolley & Eaton was producing 300 gallons a day and Jack was second in Moore County with 83 gallons") and Lynne Tolley, present-day proprietress of Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House, a southern institution in its own right.

I haven't confirmed this, but it seems like a pretty strong coincidence....Tolley isn't a very common name and Lynne Tolley is presently one of the tasters for Jack Daniels.

Re: Tennessee Research

The Tolleys, Motlows, Bobos and Daniels go way back in Tennessee history. They've always been intertwined as part of the social and political fabric of the area around Moore County, and I have no doubt that that included the Tolley & Eaton distillery as well. There might have been a Bobo distillery, too. And they're all very much involved with Jack Daniel's. Lynne Tolley is Jack's great-grand-niece, and her own uncle Lem Tolley was Jack Daniels' master distiller from 1941 to 1964. Frank Bobo was another JD master distiller, I believe he was the one just before current master Jimmy Bedford. Lynne herself is actually more than just a taster at the distillery (they have lots of tasters); she's the master-taster and I presume that puts her right up next to Jimmy in determining what goes into the bottle.

In fact, the relationships among these families reminds me of the Beams and Nalleys and Dants and such in Kentucky. Let JoBettye Boone take you on a little trip through her Beam family scrapbook and you'll really walk away dizzy -- and that's just the Beam part, let alone the Boones!

Lincoln Henderson occasionally visits this forum. Lincoln, if you get a chance do you think you could point Lynne toward this site? We could really do with some Tennessee subjects to enrich our total American whiskey knowledge. And I'll bet she could go far beyond the JD company line in telling some tales of the old Tennessee distilleries that once were.